Conservative Jewish Movement Postpones Vote on Gay Marriage, Ordination

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A committee that sets legal precedent for the Conservative Jewish movement has tabled until December a vote on whether to ordain gay rabbis and perform same-sex commitment ceremonies. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which is composed of 25 rabbis who vote on issues of Jewish law, met […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A committee that sets legal precedent for the Conservative Jewish movement has tabled until December a vote on whether to ordain gay rabbis and perform same-sex commitment ceremonies.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which is composed of 25 rabbis who vote on issues of Jewish law, met Tuesday and Wednesday (March 7-8) in an “intense but respectful” closed-door session in Baltimore, a news release reported.


Until December’s vote, the movement will continue to be governed by opinions issued by the committee in 1992, which barred both ordination and commitment ceremonies for gays.

Meanwhile, the committee reaffirmed a statement that was first drafted after last year’s meeting on this issue. The statement affirms heterosexual marriage as the only valid form of marriage, but also urges congregations to take a “welcoming” approach to gays and lesbians who are members.

The four position papers that the committee was considering were returned to their authors for “extensive” revisions before December’s meeting. Each of the papers argued a different interpretation of Jewish law on homosexual behavior.

“The committee members expressed their opinions in a passionate and forthright manner,” said Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, which oversees the committee.

Two of the papers argued for the movement to keep its current position. One argued in favor of changing the policy to one of permission on both ordination and commitment ceremonies.

The fourth, authored by Jewish ethicist and University of Judaism professor Rabbi Elliot Dorff, presented a more moderate interpretation of the verse in Leviticus that calls homosexual sex “an abomination,” arguing that if a couple refrains from certain sexual behaviors, the movement could still acknowledge their relationship through a commitment ceremony or a rabbinic ordination.

The postponement of votes on the papers is a repeat of last year, when the committee met to discuss this issue but no votes were taken.


The committee meets four times each year to discuss major issues and render opinions that carry the full weight of Jewish legal precedent.

A paper needs only six votes to be accepted as a “teshuva,” or “answer” from the committee, at which point the opinion becomes an accepted act of judicial interpretation. If a paper receives 80 percent of the votes, it is considered “takana,” or an act of legislation.

Feelings on the subject are strong on all sides.

“Jewish law does not validate as acceptable homosexual relations between members of the same gender, male or female,” said Rabbi Joel Roth, a law committee member for 30 years who authored one of the papers, a 52-page argument to keep the current law.

Roth acknowledges that his position on this issue is painful to gays who want to belong to the Jewish community and feel welcomed.

“No Jewish legalist likes to render a decision that causes pain,” said Roth. “That includes me. But the fact that the law imposes pain does not make the law immoral.”

In addition to the 25 voting members of the law committee, the retreat was attended by other Conservative movement leaders, who could participate in discussions but not vote. These included Meyers of the Rabbinical Assembly, a 1,600-member organization of Conservative rabbis; and Judy Yudof, former president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the congregational arm of the movement, which has more than a million members.


In 2003, Yudof sparked renewed public debate on gay ordination and marriage when she submitted a letter to the law committee urging that they add the issue to their docket.

The potential stakes of the law committee’s decision range from dire predictions of a schism of the Conservative movement, to a belief that some synagogues will disaffiliate from the movement, to fears that Conservative Jews will flock to the Reform movement, which ordains gays and lesbians and allows commitment ceremonies, or the Orthodox movement, which does not.

Meyers said this issue is “not the most important” one facing the movement.

“I don’t see the movement either coming apart or being overly stressed by this issue,” he said. “It’s possible some people might leave, but I don’t believe it will have a negative impact.”

The most important issue facing the movement, he said, is the challenge of building stronger communities and “how we engage the Jewish public in a stronger commitment to the movement itself.”

MO/RB END RNS

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